Learning to be Selfish

I've been a terrible blogger lately.  My poor neglected blog has been collecting dust as I remind myself to check in a couple times a week just to make sure it hasn't been hijacked by trolls.  Once a week or so I've been able to string a few words together and call them a blog post, but any regularity I once managed to maintain has disintegrated, and I fearfully wonder if those trolls have kidnapped my creativity as well.


"I'm too busy" and "I'm too tired" are my standard excuses for just about everything these days, including my skipped workouts, my dependence on Kraft macaroni and cheese, and my blog absence.  But those are really just cop outs.  I'm not too busy, and I'm not too tired.  The simple truth is that I'm learning to be selfish.



As mil spouses we all seem to have this ridiculous tendency to think we can do it all, and I'm no exception.  My husband is gone.  He missed the last 2 weeks of school, the last 2 weeks of baseball/t-ball season, and that crazy mixture of stress and excitement that goes along with the start of summer vacation.  It sucks doing it all without a partner.  But sometimes we have to take a step back and realize we don't have to do it all.



Normally, I would put my children to bed after another long day and then park myself at the computer to compose a blog post or at the very least return the long list of emails I've been ignoring.  But for the past few weeks, I've chosen not to.  I've chosen to chat with friends on Facebook or read a book or watch bad television.  I've chosen to put off folding laundry or bathing the dog or finding a place in my attic for my classroom materials I cleared out at school.  I've chosen to be selfish.



At some point, I do need to clean my house and empty the dishwasher and write a blog post or two.  Now that school is out for the summer, I don't have to use the excuses that I'm too busy or too tired to do what needs to be done.  But during the past few weeks, while I was stressing over the speech I had to give at my kindergarten graduation and frantically stopping at the store before the last day of school because I forgot to buy presents for Little C's teachers and tearing my house apart to find a hidden t-ball hat for the last game, I enjoyed allowing all those other less urgent things to wait until I was ready to give them attention.  I enjoyed giving myself permission to sip on a glass of wine while giggling with my best friend on the phone.  I enjoyed the realization that I don't have to do it all.  I enjoyed being selfish.

How do you allow yourself to be selfish every now and then?

To Whom It May Concern

Dear Summer Vacation,
Please hurry up and get here.  I have 8 days left of school, and my students are bouncing off the walls, misbehaving, and generally making me wonder if there's any point in teaching them because they're no longer paying any attention to me.  I will miss my students once you arrive, but I'm ready to read more, write more, and sleep more!


Dear Harry Potter,
Please stop being so mesmerizing. I've been reading you to my 8-year-old son, but he's so obsessed with your story that he's reading ahead of me. I'm at the beginning of the second book. He's about to finish the third. And he's telling me everything that happens! 




Dear Gunner,
I've accepted the fact that I will spend most of my mornings wrestling my kids' toys out of your mouth and shushing you as you bark incessantly at the invisible enemies in our backyard at 6 AM, but for goodness sakes, my patio table is not a sofa.

Dear Mother of One of My Students,
You know when you were a kid and you ran into your teachers at the grocery store and thought how weird that was? Well, on Friday I ran into you and your daughter. At the gym. In the locker room. Where I was wearing a towel. I think that tops the grocery store for weirdness. So let's pretend that never happened, shall we?




Dear Fifty Shades of Grey,
Wow.  That's all I have to say about that.





Dear Wedding Anniversary,
Cheers to another year you fell on a day that I am husband-less.  Here's to hoping next year our 13th will be spent in the same time zone.

Act of Valor

A few weeks ago I attended the MilBlog Conference in Arlington, Virginia.  It was my third year in attendance, my third year meeting incredible people, reuniting with friends, and learning more about our military blogging community.  

I was excited to learn that the guest speaker at the conference was Scott Waugh, co-founder of Bandito Brothers Films and producer/director of the movie Act of Valor.  (Click HERE to view his interview.)  And I was honored to have the opportunity to sit down and chat with him.

If you haven't heard of Act of Valor, it's an action packed movie starring active-duty Navy SEALs.  Here's a sneak peak...

I know what you're thinking: this movie is for guys right?  It's definitely a guy movie, but there's plenty in it for us ladies as well (besides the Navy SEAL eye candy).  While the movie does focus on the operations of the team guys, it also includes a glimpse into the families and what they go through on the homefront. 

The directors did more than just get to know the SEALs who signed on. They got to know the families as well.  When I talked with Scott Waugh, he became visibly emotional when talking about including the family element in the film.  "I wanted to put in just as much of the family sacrifice on top of the story," he explained.  "Not only is it about what these guys are doing to protect their families and get back, but also what the wives are sacrificing when their men are downrange.  It's really that delicate balance."

And that delicate balance makes for a great movie. 

So now you want to run out and go buy it right?  Well, pretty soon you can. 

Act of Valor will be available on Blu-ray and DVD on June 5th.  And guess what I've got for you?  A coupon code!  Head on over to Fox Connect and get $3 off and free shipping with coupon code "VALOR" (code valid until June 17).  Do you need another reason to head on over and buy it?  A portion of the proceeds from the Blue-ray and DVD are going to Operation Homefront.  Awesome.

So order your copy today and then come back and let me know what you thought of the movie!